Swallows Present As mentioned in our most recent podcast, Balentien could start the year on the top team. Because he’s starting to show some life at the plate, mixed with Roman’s continued stability on the mound, and abetted by Lim’s tender throwing arm, Tokyo’s well-paid closer could start the year on the farm instead. Yet […]

Chunichi Dragons Sold backup catcher, Keiji Oyama (31) to Tohoku. 2011 was Oyama’s best season so far, offensively-speaking. He hit .280/.394/.390 in 102 plate appearances. It sounds like Araki and Ibata could be reverting to their old positions, second and short, respectively. Victor Diaz is all but certain to be wearing a Chunichi uniform this […]

As most of the baseball world has been made aware, the Texas Rangers won the exclusive rights to speak with Mr. Darvish in December 2011. Until this week, there really had not been much discussion about the discussions. Granted in the US, the sportsworld is fully engulfed by the NFL and college football. Now that all the […]

Chunichi Dragons The talk of Araki and Ibata switching back to their original positions, 2nd and short, respectively, continues. Not that anyone cares. Victor Diaz might be on the team’s radar. Diaz played in Korea in 2009. Yomiuri Giants Hayato Sakamoto, Yomiuri’s prized homegrown shortstop, has been reaping the benefits of Shinya Miyamoto’s guidance this […]

Some recent news tidbits about two former Tokyo players: Shingo Takatsu (1991-2003; 2006-07) 43-year-old Takatsu will become player-manager of the BC League’s Niigata Albirex Baseball Club. It is the first time that a player-manager has been named in BC League history. The one-time Japan saves leader (until Iwase eclipsed his mark earlier this year) will […]

Welcome to the Monday Review, in which we’ll look back at the week that was and look ahead to the week that will be. We hope a recurring weekly review column will help readers identify some trends that can’t be covered in a single game report. We’re still trying to work out the format, so […]

Tomorrow, weather permitting, the 6 Central League teams will play host to the 6 Pacific League teams, kicking off 5 weeks of Interleague play. This post will hopefully give you some information you will find useful.

May 23rd, 2009 Tokyo Yakult Swallows 0 Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters 3 Streak: Lost 1 Last 5: WWLWL (Sapporo Dome) Two days after being shutout on two hits by Rakuten ace Tanaka, Yakult got to try their hand against another of Japan’s top-tier starters, Yu Darvish. But unlike against Tanaka, Tokyo managed to rack up eight […]

This one did not start well for Yu Darvish and team Japan. Darvish threw far more balls than strikes in the first inning of this game. His first three pitches were balls above the strike zone, and his first two pitches to Korea’s second, third and fourth batters were outside the zone. Behind in the […]